Debating Doctor Who

We start by discussing the latest Doctor Who: Lockdown production, a moving epilogue to The Sarah Jane Adventures and tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, who died nine years ago today. Then we tackle a pair of emails from listeners. First up, do the Cybermen work as monsters without a mouthpiece, and why does it always seem to be the Master these days? Then, we take another look at that infamous bit from "Spyfall: Part Two".

We went live on Crowdcast for this one, with 30 of our listeners there live to chat and ask questions. We start by looking at the various little goodies that have come out as part of the Doctor Who: Lockdown! series, including the just-released video message with Arthur Darvill as Rory. We then take some questions from the audience, including which Doctor Who stories are the most comforting and then a big discussion about something we've been kind of sidelong alluding to for a while: The 11th Doctor became increasingly problematic (yeah, yeah, kind of an empty word, but bear with us) over the course of his run. We try to define what we actually mean by that and dig into what we think went wrong with the character. All our friends in the audience helped a lot with a bunch of trenchant insights! This was just generally a total blast to do, and we look forward to seeing you all again for another one of these soon...

Yes, we're going to attempt a live episode this Saturday! It's at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be hosted at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/debating-doctor-who-live -- checkout the link for some early signup information. We'll be discussing whatever we want, honestly, but our theoretical topic is all the little goodies showrunners past and present have been putting out for Doctor Who: Lockdown! And then, even though it's just Alasdair, we have somehow have a full 30 minutes of episode devoted to that most auspicious of occasions: The 10th anniversary of "The Beast Below." Alasdair dives into a bunch of thoughts as to why the second adventures for new series Doctors always visit the future, and what is meaningful and applicable about the 11th Doctor and Amy's adventure to our present moment.

Last time, we never really got into a proper discussion of a pretty key aspect of "The Timeless Children": Namely, the whole timeless child thing. Well, this episode is nothing but a big discussion of just what that revelation means, what it says, and what it ought to say. We didn't expect to have as much to say about this as we ended up saying! Plus we have some quick thoughts about all the little goodies showrunners past and present are making as part of Doctor Who: Lockdown! Also, next week we're going to do a live episode for folks to join us as we record -- look out for a mini episode sometime in the coming days to announce when and (virtually) where it's happening.

So, yeah... it's been a few weeks, huh? Better late than never, we hope, as Alasdair and Allison finally get round to discussing the most recent season finale. We didn't love this one, and we try to get into some detail about why... so much so that after an hour and 45 minutes of discussion we still hadn't really gotten into the, you know, Timeless Child stuff. Lore will just have to wait for next time, but for now we've got an episode to discuss, darn it! Also, Sacha Dhawan, if you're listening: First of all, hello. Second of all, you're going to like what we have to say here. Let's get into it.

You know, it's kinda funny: We liked this episode quite a bit overall, but also we had a lot to say about what didn't work. The middle bit, mostly. Also, the guest characters were pretty thin. And hey, what do you think is going on with Brendan? Or the Cybermen, for that matter? We honestly have no idea, and *that* is the main reason that, for all its faults, we come away pretty satisfied with this one.

It's a big historical episode with Romantics galore and Cybermen aplenty... well, one Cyberman, but trust us, he's a lot. This episode was frequently all Allison could ever possibly want, and Alasdair generally liked it a lot too. Well, except one bit. There's a very low-key kinda rant coming about one key moment. So yes, there's some debating in this episode, in our annual reminder of what, you know, the podcast is actually called, but mostly we're here to admire Jodie Whittaker's terrific work and marvel at just how much Lord Byron is Lord Byron in this.

The final 20 or so minutes of today's episode are devoted to an introspective, still somehow Doctor Who-related commentary on gender identity from Alasdair, who recently updated their pronouns to publicly acknowledge that either "he" or "they" are correct. While this segment is also available on the full episode, if anyone wants to hear Alasdair's thoughts in a more standalone sort of way, we wanted to share this part separately. So here's one person offering their perspective on gender, how it exists in society, and how Doctor Who helped them think about it more personally. (Sidebar: I, Alasdair, write all these show notes, and this is the first time I've used "they" to refer to myself. It's a trip, not going to lie!)

Content Warning: This episode discusses topics around self-harm and suicidal ideation in the context of this week's story. For those sensitive to those topics, we recommend skipping the section from 1:04:45 to 1:19:45.

In today's epic-length episode, we look at "Can You Hear Me?" in all its strange, often wonderful glory. We look at how the story explores the inner lives of all the companions, and just how much fun this is for anyone keeping track of Doctor Who's myriad immortals. (Alasdair waves hello.) We also devote the final portion of the show to something more personal, as Alasdair discusses his--or, as of last week, also their--gender identity and how Doctor Who was so meaningful to the questions they are starting to ask. (Note: For those just interested in that discussion, we're also putting it out as a separate minisode.)

We meet back up to discuss "Praxeus"... by first talking some more about "Fugitive Of The Judoon", and how it reminds us of "Utopia." You know, the way one does. Anyway, we do spend a lot of time discussing how "Praxeus" is a solid episode with some significant shortcomings. We look at how the show is still figuring out how to divide its attentions between lots of different characters. We explain why this is a stronger environmental message than similar material in "Orphan 55", and just generally how Doctor Who can't help but reference itself. Also, what *is* going on with Yaz?